Benitez’ Brilliance Rekindles These Two Emotions For Fans

Written by Dr. Ed Harrison

1:51pm Saturday, December 31st, 2016

Commented 44 times

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As we reflect back on 2016 on the final day it’s a really good feeling to have a man in charge of Newcastle United who has vast experience, handles the press and the fans with ease and knows exactly what he’s doing at the club.

That’s Rafa Benitez.

Rafa has given some hope back to Newcastle fans – hope that we can win a trophy very soon and be back in Europe and hopefully make Newcastle United into a world-class name in football.

And he’s brought the pride back – Geordie pride – which can be seen at every home game at a packed out St. James’ Park – in England’s second division.

Rafa Benitez – Newcastle United manager That could only happen at Newcastle United where the fans are so passionate and loyal – and completely starved of success.

And to give some praise to owner Mike Ashley and Managing Director Lee Charnley for a change, they seem to be willing to keep out of Rafa’s way and let him transform the club from top to bottom in his own image.

We cannot wait to see what Newcastle United are like in say a couple of years time.

Some of us older folks just need to ensure we’ll be around for what could be a golden age coming up for Newcastle United – as long as we can keep Rafa at the club.

In the last two seasons it’s been so difficult for Newcastle fans to have to watch the utter tripe served up, when too many of our players didn’t seem to care less.

And you cannot say we’ve had top class managers in charge, when you look at the terrible records of both John Carver and Steve McClaren, who were the two managers who preceded Rafa at Newcastle.

Head Coach

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

GF

GA

GD

Points

Carver

19

3

4

12

18

35

-17

13

McClaren

24

5

6

13

25

44

-19

21

Total

43

8

10

25

43

79

-36

34

The fans had to go through far too many humiliating defeats and it was really difficult to take – in fact extremely difficult to take – especially when you had to write about it on a blog.

But Rafa has turned things around quickly and we have won 17 of our 24 games in the Championship and reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup.

If we can keep up the pace of the first 24 games for the rest of the season we are on track to finish with 100 points in the Championship, which would mean certain promotion back to the Premier League.

Of course nothing is ever certain in football, but we now have the man in charge at Newcastle who knows exactly what he’s doing and his stated aim is to win a trophy at Newcastle for the club just as soon as possible.

44 comments so far

Last season had the mantra of “We don’t demand a team that wins. We demand a team that tries”. Where has that gone? So many entitled moaners now complaining about a first place team. Can’t be happy themselves unless they’re moaning about something. And lends credence to the outside criticism of Toon fans being deluded and hounding past teams and managers out of Newcastle. We are in the Championship this year. Judge this team by how it competes in the Championship this season. Worry about next season after this season is over.

That said, this is a Newcastle football blog and where else can we talk about whether our manager gets the set up right or a player has a good or poor performance and debate how to make it better? To me, that is all good fun to discuss and Rafa is not beyond criticism of his gameplan, selection or tactics. Why have this blog then if we can’t do that?

But, the over the top moaning about Rafa being the most boring manager ever, and saying the team is total shite – comments with zero objectivity or substance and just intended to moan and wind people up. Those comments are a waste of internet bandwidth. Unfortunately one must see them in order to sift through the comments looking for those who make constructive and interesting posts.

Oh my. Perhaps just stepped in it. Is this post a waste of bandwidth or constructive and interesting? ?

Watching a bit of Rangers vs Celtic. Wouldn’t mind seeing Celtic’s Dembele in black and white stripes instead of the green and white hoops. Wishful thinking no doubt, but reminds me a bit of Demba Ba with perhaps more skill.

Someone mentioned it in an earlier blog but just wondered if we let Abeid go to early. He was developing and was a strong physical player who might just have been useful in the current set up . Had he made any progress since ?

And in regards to Abeid, perhaps we did let him go to soon. He did seem to be progressing and he had some of the traits that could see him succeed in the Championship but I don’t know if he could consistently do it in the Prem which is where we were the summer we sent him off.

Toonces, not sure people are having a go mate. Well, maybe one or two might be, I’m not sure, but most are simply expressing an opinion on how to improve something. I know I am. Nobody can seriously be unhappy with this season under Rafa, but the blog is about opinions. Nothing anybody says on here will have any effect on what happens on the pitch. The last two games have seen a serious lack of movement off the ball and that, for me, is a concern. No doubt it is for Rafa too. I fully expect him to correct that, because it’s what he does after all. As Rafa says himself, we need to get better at what we do to keep winning. He won’t rest on his laurels and I expect to see a big change in performance on Monday. He won’t tolerate anything less. Anybody doubting his ability is miles off target and I don’t think he tells them to be static either. 🙂

Toonces, just seen your last comment, which negates mine a bit 🙂 Aye, anybody just whining without offering alternatives is just pointless. He’s the best we’ve had trophy wise and he knows what he’s doing. He must get equally frustrated when players don’t follow orders. I expect a big improvement on Monday.

A much needed three points yesterday. This time we had the rub of the green, with the sending off, and fortunately we were able to capitalise on it. IMO the second half of the season will be tougher for us than the first half has been. Most teams will by now be aware that if they can close down Shelvey and knock down Gayle they’ll be in with a good chance of beating us. A couple of shrewd buys in the upcoming window could, of course, change that. Snodgrass would be a great buy, but Hull would be mad to let him go.

Mr Tuff, he’ll always be associated with Boro though, and rightly so. Not doing a bad job at Blyth though. This might be their year for promotion with a bit of luck. Their cup runs always leaves them with a huge backlog of fixtures though. Help or hindrance? They’re already lagging behind in games played again this season. Can’t remember how many games they played last season, but it was a huge amount and their promotion chase tailed off.

Just had a peek at the Mag. Wow, Forest fans really are bitter about us lmao! At least their red card was deserved, unlike our two which were overturned. One even claimed they should appeal the second yellow – DER!!! 🙂 They need to realise we didn’t spend a penny of the parachute money either. What we spent came from sales we had no choice in. Maybe they’re still bitter about being branded scabs in the eighties? Nothing undeserved – Scabs!! 🙂 Just wondering how many of those bragging about their European success, in an era dominated by English clubs, actually remember it? Very few I think. It’s why I never brag about our great FA cup successes in the fifties – before my time. 🙂

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Transfers Summer 2017

Player

Fee

Club

INCOMING

Christian Atsu

£6.2M

Chelsea

Florian Lejeune

£8.8M

Eibar

Jacob Murphy

£10M

Norwich

Javier Manquillo

£4.5M

Atletico Madrid

Mikel Merino

£2.5M Loan – season

Borussia Dortmund

Kenedy

Loan – season – pending

Chelsea

Joselu

£5.0M

Stoke City

Transfer Fees In

£37.0M

OUTGOING

Vurnon Anita

Released

Aston Villa

Sammy Ameobi

Released

Bolton

Haris Vuckic

Released

FC Twente

Lubo Satka

Released

FC DAC 1904

Florian Thauvin

£10.0M

Marseille

Kevin Mbabu

£1.0M

Young Boys

Matz Sels

Loan – season

Anderlecht

Yoan Gouffran

Released

Goztepe

Adam Armstrong

Loan – season

Bolton

Lewis Gibson

£1.0M Up to £5M in add-ons

Everton

Daryl Murphy

£2.0M

Nottingham Forest

Ivan Toney

Loan – season

Wigan Athletic

Transfer Fees Out

£14.0M

Net Spend

£23M

Preseason Friendlies 2017

Club

Location

Date

Hearts Won 2-1

Tynecastle

Friday 14th July 7:45pm

Preston Drew 1-1

Deepdale

Saturday 22nd July 3:00pm

Bradford Won 4-0

Valley Parade

Wednesday 26th July 7:30pm

Mainz 05 Lost 2-1

Opel Arena, Mainz

Saturday 29th July 4:00 pm local time

Wolfsburg Won 3-1

AOK Stadium, Wolfsburg

Wednesday 2nd August 4:00pm local time

Hellas Verona Wopn 2-0

St. James’ Park

Sunday 6th August 3:00pm

football club

It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.